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Yankees first baseman Luke Voit looked a bit like a professional wrestler last week, hurting a bit about how he deserved to play as much as the highly accomplished first baseman who was brought in before the deadline for exchanges.
If Mean Gene Okerlund was there to conduct the interview, perhaps the big and the bad Luuuuuuke would have been made to challenge Anthony Rizzo in a cage match for the winner.
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No, it was just a frustration bubbling up the other day, although on Friday night, Voit masqueraded as a wrestling legend.
After Voit crushed the Minnesota Twins’ shots with an eighth inning homer that made it a night of four hits and four RBIs, he shot a Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Sees celebrated his opposite circuit by strutting from one end of the Yankees canoe to the other, clapping his hands and hugging his teammates, then grabbed two water bottles, held them up and threw them up. broke together. The large splash filled his open mouth and drenched his smiley face as he stared at a TV camera that was just a few feet away.
It was an Austin 3:16. Stone Cold was doing it with cans of beer in the ring after some big wins, a signature celebration that he said translates to “I just whipped you a–!”
“I had to do it,” Voit said in a post-game interview with YES. “I’ve wanted to do this for a while. Tonight was the perfect night to do it.
Sure. Sees kicked the Twins leading the Yankees to their eighth straight win and he showed everything that, yes, he certainly should be at bat on a regular basis.
Four-and-a-half months into the season, Voit is finally raking in as he did in 2020 when his 22 home runs led the majors.
Since Sees last return to the injured list on August 8 – the same day Rizzo went on COVID IL – he has four homers and 15 RBIs in 12 games. From opening day through the first week of August, his stats were two homers, seven RBIs, 29 games and 88 games missed while on the IL three times.
On Friday, Voit was 4-for-5 with a two-run left row single in the first inning, a left row single in the second, an RBI double that jumped over the wall to left center field in the fourth and a center-right homer from right-hander Kyle Barraclough to lead the seventh. Voir has seen 21 shots in his first four appearances at plate, each resulting in a hit.
“I thought he was really good at batting,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “While last week or whatever he got some big hits for us and was productive at batting, I thought his batting shots (in Friday’s game) were really consistent. I thought his swing decisions were really good.
“I thought the home run ball he hit was a really good hitting at bat where he fell behind in the count. Barraclough threw some good break balls at him (to take the 0-2 lead), but he reworked himself into the count and put in a good swing (a 2-2 fastball) for the homeroom.
As usual, Voit was at the stadium on Friday before most of his teammates. He spent part of his afternoon practicing batting early to work on his swing.
“I would say my timing is everything,” said Voit. “My shoulder level was a bit different. I was coming back too (far) into my back shoulder and drifting a lot where I was missing balls and turning around (balls on the ground). When I hit the ball on the ground, I’m usually outside, so I have to try to get the ball off the ground. “
Over the past week, Voit has been hitting more balls in the air and throwing more balls, resulting in video game stats. In his last six games, Voit has posted a record 0.500 with 11 hits in 22 at-bat with three homers and 11 RBIs, a hot streak that took his season average from 0.220 to 0.260.
“I’m working on stuff and it all starts to click,” says Voit. “I control the zone, especially with (the home circuit) at bat. There were two tight throws (two strokes). I made him fight and ended up making the mistake.
When Voit went to IL in July, he had just two homers and seven RBIs in 29 games. Since his return, he has four homers and 15 RBIs in 12 games.
With Rizzo back last Wednesday, Voit lost his first base job to a four-time Gold Glove winner. But Boone vowed that Voit would see plenty of action again and so far he’s played two of three games, one at designated hitter Thursday and Friday at first base with Rizzo at rest.
“When we acquired Rizzo to be the first baseman,” right fielder Aaron Judge said in the Yankees Zoom Room, “I think Luke… He kind of said what he was thinking the other He went there and worked on the pitch, and he shows why he deserves to be in this lineup, deserves to play every day.
“I know Rizzo is going to play everyday as a first baseman, but we’ll get to mix Luke up early, mix him up with DH them. When you’re able to do that, it makes this range so much deeper, so deadly. I can’t wait to see how it all turns out in the next few months.
Sees will continue to be batting, Boone continues to insist.
“He’s a good player and a good hitter,” added the manager. “He’s lost a lot of beaters to various injuries this year so I know it was a frustrating part for him. But when he’s in the lineup, he’s a really good hitter in this league.
“I’m sure everyone is going to draw all the conclusions (why he’s suddenly sexy), like everyone always does, that it’s because of that, it’s not because of that.” He’s a good hitter. He’s a good player. And he had some big success for us here last week.
Voir is excited about where his game is and the Yankees offense, which finally seems to be peaking after a lot of bad nights this season. In the Yanks’ last 10 games, they’ve scored at least seven points in half of them.
“The boys are riding right now, and it’s a good thing because we hadn’t done it at all,” said Voit. “Our offense is really, really good and it’s going full blast. It’s fun right now.
Randy Miller can be reached at [email protected].
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